Friday, March 25, 2016

This
week, as I promised last week, I start a series of stories. Parshiyos Tzav and
Shemini will appear next week. I just wanted to write something that I left out
of last week’s Parsha. It says “Adam” who makes a mistake and sins shall offer
up a Korban. Just as Adam, the first man, sinned out of innocence and a mistake
of disobedience so too a person who qualifies for a Korban must be an
accidental sinner like Adam (Shogeg in Hebrew). A person who willfully sins (Mayzid)
cannot atone with a Korban but only Teshuva and perhaps Yom HaKippurim. Adam
after the first few chapters is not found elsewhere in Chumash. We find though
that Yechezkel is Ben Adam (son of Adam).

Last
week I promised stories that I heard. Each one an individual tale of noteworthiness.
I can’t question HASHEM on what happens. Everything that HASHEM does even when
it appears bad to me is for the good. Remember a soul is put in this world for
a reason and transferred to the next. The body may die but the soul does not.
It is a hard concept for many in a physical world. Why did most of European
Jewry perish or was destroyed in spirit I do not know. The Sephardim I believe
survived because they were united and honored each other so that when the Nazis
occupied their lands, they were spared. What saved American Jewry when
Roosevelt offered to deliver to the Arabs the 6,000,000 US Jews at Yalta is
perhaps his death caused by the burnt offerings of Europe and the trampling of
the Russian Jews by the Soviets. Perhaps some of the heroism in these stories
and even a few miracles that saved Ivan was what was needed to spare US Jewry.

I
have one Bolshevik Story as told by Rabbi Solomon to his niece, his brother’s
daughter. He told about her mother’s side. I believe that I wrote about my
former boss, Chaim Feldhahn who suffered in Siberia under Stalin and lost a
leg. Then thanks to my FL neighbors and former Holocaust Memorial of Miami
Director Avi Weiss, three neighbors spoke: Julia Janek, Ivan Gluck and Aryeh
Lyster with a brief mention of my former boss Zvi Shalit who was a toddler. Each
story of survival more interesting than the next. For over an hour the Minyan
was glued to their seats.

Rabbi
Solomon Shlita heard it from the girl’s maternal great-grandmother. Her father
was a Mohel among other things. He was called to perform a Bris. The mother of
this woman pleaded with her husband not to perform the Bris for the penalty
under the Bolsheviks most likely was death. He told his wife that he had to go
to do this holy Mitzvah. He went and performed the Bris. On his way home, he
was arrested and for 8 days of torture his wife was an Aguna (woman who cannot
marry because her husband has disappeared and may be alive). On the eight day
she was informed that she was a widow thanks to the Bolsheviks.

Chaim
Feldhahn was a teenager and member of the youth group Betar along with Moshe Ahrens.
He was in the free Baltic State of Lithuania. He was from a German Jewish
Family in Vilna. They were not religious but Zionistic and everybody knew
Hebrew and wanted to move to Tzion. He plotted with a few other Jews to resist
the Soviet invasion. Somebody got wind of it. Worse fates awaited some of the
plotters especially the leaders but he was sent to a labor camp in the Gulag of
Siberia. There from either a wound or frost bite he lost one leg. In the came
the food was measly and to survive a rat or cat was meat and they would entice
cats with bread to come near them and the cats were grabbed. He survived and after
the war Molotov freed the political prisoners. Chaim got his masters in
electrical engineering. (Contrary to some ‘degrees’ from Russia of people whom
I met, he actually knew his engineering quite well.) Eventually he worked his
way up to the head of engineering or higher up in the TV manufacturing plant. They
had a quota to fill of 17,000 TV’s a month which they met. Most did not work
and needed a warranty repair but the quota was met. Soviet Officials came to
inspect and from the petty cash a nice tidy sum was placed in Chaim’s suit
jacket in an envelope. Somehow, during the time that Chaim left the room for a
minute the sum disappeared and the inspection turned out glowing.

Julia was sixteen and a half when the Nazis marched in.
Julia said 1943 but the Wikipedia wrote: By 1938, Hungarian politics and foreign
policy had become more stridently nationalistic. Hungary benefited
territorially from its relationship with the Axis. Settlements were negotiated
regarding territorial disputes with theCzechoslovak Republic, theSlovak Republic, and theKingdom of Romania. In 1940, under pressure
from Germany, Hungary joined theAxis.
In 1941, Hungarian forces participated in theinvasion of Yugoslaviaand theinvasion of the Soviet Union.

While
waging war against theSoviet Union,
Hungary engaged in armistice negotiations with theUnited Statesand theUnited Kingdom.
Hitler discovered this betrayal and, in March 1944, German forces occupied
Hungary.

[At
work I heard the story of my Director of Logistics, George (Zvi) on how as a
child the Nazis put him and his mother on a transport to Auschwitz and the
railroad was bombed. He was saved by the fact that they sent the Jews as slave
laborers to a factory and there the women could work with their toddlers near
them.]

Julia
was sent away by her family to a safer area but she wanted to come home for
Pessach or Purim despite begging by the family members in that area. She went
back and forth a few times but she kept returning until she could no longer
leave the area. She was rounded up and deported to Auschwitz with her family.
She would never see her parents again. Her sister and brother worked as she
did. He sister took sick and went to Dr. Mengele’s Hospital and returned to
work again! They were sent to a labor came as able-bodied men were drafted as
cannon fodder to stall the Russian invasion of Germany and they needed Jews to
replace them in the factories. Somehow the three survived the war in the meager
came rations which were better than Auschwitz as they had to be strong to work.
All three are B”H alive today.

Ivan
Gluck was lucky to be in the safe zone of Raoul Wallenberg but it was no picnic
and Aryeh Lyster was in Poland fleeing the Nazis towards Russia in 1939.

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to potential risks of
travel to and throughout Europe following several terrorist attacks, including
the March 22 attacks in Brussels claimed by ISIL. Terrorist groups
continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting
events, tourist sites, restaurants, and transportation. This Travel Alert
expires on June 20, 2016.

U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or
using mass transportation. Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid crowded
places. Exercise particular caution during religious holidays and at large
festivals or events.

U.S. citizens should also:

Follow the
instructions of local authorities, especially in an emergency.

Monitor media and
local information sources and factor updated information into personal
travel plans and activities.

Be prepared for
additional security screening and unexpected disruptions.

Stay in touch with
your family members and ensure they know how to reach you in the event of
an emergency.

Register in our
Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).
European governments continue to guard against terrorist attacks
and conduct raids to disrupt plots. We work closely with our allies and
will continue to share information with our European partners that will
help identify and counter terrorist threats.

Call
1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444
from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time,
Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

Soldier shoots
Arab on ground during a hot day with jacket on after being shot. Soldier claims
he was moving and did not know if there was a suicide/homicide vest under the
jacket. Left and PM blame soldier. But they were not there: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209866

Big boys, lobby
money and power vs. somebody who cannot be bribed: RIGHT IS LEFT or as Adolf
Hilter wrote – Heaven is hell! Dmitry Kiselyov, presenter of Russia's main
weekly TV news show "Vesti Nedeli," claimed this month that the
Republican party elite had struck a secret deal with the Democrats to derail
Trump, in part because of his sympathy for Russia. http://www.jpost.com/US-Elections/From-Russia-with-love-Why-the-Kremlin-backs-Trump-449103